When he requested the warrant last spring, then-Waterloo Township police Chief Tom Cottrell omitted facts that would be “critical to a probable cause analysis,” Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson said Friday, April 18.

Myers’ lawyer, Andrew Kirkpatrick, argued the evidence should be suppressed because of the warrant, which he contended was weak and faulty.

Cottrell failed to present District Judge Joseph Filip, who found there was probable cause to sign the warrant, and the prosecutor’s office with a full picture of what was happening, Kirkpatrick said.

Officers do not get to pick and choose what details they include. It is “law enforcement 101” that investigators consider both the information supporting their positions and exculpatory evidence.

Cottrell, who has not commented on the search warrant issue, earlier said he became suspicious of Myers after he did not welcome firefighters into his home when a passerby reported a fire March 25 on Myers’ porch on Territorial Road. It was mostly or completely extinguished by the time authorities arrived.

To Filip, Cottrell contended no one had been allowed in the house, but this was not true.

Timothy Rolling was buying the home and testified he talked to Cottrell in late March or early April. He told the chief he was responsible for the property and had been in the house. Admitting he was not trained to look for it, he said he told Cottrell he did not see anything suspicious.

Cottrell did not include this information in his request for a warrant. He also did not note that he had checked Myers’ Consumers Energy bill for any spikes in usage related to his alleged marijuana growing operation and found no significant increases.

Schrotenboer argued the details Cottrell failed to disclose were not enough to "defeat probable cause."

By leaving out these facts, the intention was to mislead, Wilson said Friday.